The book opens with horror stories about cows and how they are given[chemicals] to fatten them up and keep them healthly. Then it moves on the chickens and the horrible conditions they are raised in. The third story is about a vegetarian and how much better his diet is. I already knew that cows and chickens were not the best and were given [chemicals] I don't want in my body, I didn't need the graphic descriptions. Much of the information was wonderful, the explanation about protein and simple vs. complete protein was very interesting. I am an avid reader, but I found this hard to follow, and didn't retain the information. Having to trudge through the chapters made each new page harder to face. I couldn't force myself to continue to read. A book isn't a good resource when you can't recall this inforation or dread having to slog through half of the book to find the one paragraph you need.

Gary Null's book is perhaps the best out there, certainly it's the best I've ever seen, on nutrition. The broad sections are Protein (50 pages), Carbohydrates (121 pages), Lipids: How Fats and Oils Affect Your Health (65 pages), Vitamins (Vitamin A, Vitamin B (140 pages) Minerals (136 pages). Mine is the 1984 edition, I believe Gary's updated the book since then.

Here's a random section from the book:

"Summary

All of the proteins we ate are made up of twenty-three amino acids. These, in turn, are chainlike molecules containing the elements carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. There are eight essential amino acids that our bodies require every day, in the right proportions, in order to keep every cell in our bodies functioning properly. These eight (and their proportional relationships) are: (section removed for brevity)

Egg Whites contain all these amino acids in just about these ratios. The complete protein foods -- meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, and soybeans in the form of tofu or bean curd -- contain all eight. Incomplete proteins have some of them, in less perfect proportions. But if you combine two or more complementary protein foods, you are competing the protein...."

He goes on to describe the function of protein, how much protein is necessary, how to know if you're getting enough, etc. This thick (511 pages, plus endnotes and index) book covers a broad range in a good depth. Just flipping through it you'll learn a lot. I find that I get sucked in and read whole chapters where I had only been looking up one fact. In other words, it's fascinating, and very readable.

I admit (and personally like) that this book is baised somewhat towards a wholistic, vegetarian lifestyle. He also speaks (for a page or two) against high protein diets, which were also a fad during the late 70's when this book was written. "All the fat she is eating, along with the meat, is causing her body to produce compounds called ketones. At low levels ketones are relatively harmless. But eating too little carbohydrates is causing some toxicity effects. She's pleased to note that she's not particularly hungry -- in fact, she feels somewhat nauseous on this diet. This is one effect of those ketones. There are at least forty known cases - as of 1977 - of people on high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets (mostly using liquid protein) dying. The diet can contribute to a host of medical problems."

But even if you are a heavy meat eater and love the Atkins diet, there are plenty of just-plain-facts in this book that you should know about if you're interested in your health. "Meats are among the food that supply complete protein... and they also supply other nutrients such as iron and B vitamins, in which many vegetables are deficient. They contain fats we use for energy, heat insulation, and a variety of matabolic functions. Many of our organs, including our nerves, can make good use of this fat (although unsaturated fats from vegetables or fish sources would be preferable)." From here though, he goes on to talk about chemicals in the meat, antibiotics, nitrates.

In breif, this is an excellent, factual book on nutrition. It's biased somewhat towards a wholistic diet that consists of organic fruits, grains, vegetables, fewer processed foods, and meats.

To balance this review (most of the quotes are from the first chapter), I'll leave you with some quotes from other sections of the book.

"Summary

Vitamin A is more than just another vitamin. It is a nutritional weapon against cell atrophy and infection. In addition, it is a gaurdian of your eyesight, hearing, and the health of your skin. In short, it is a powerful healer and protector. Used with other nutrients -- especially zinc and vitamin E -- in a balanced diet, sufficient vitamin A can be your best bet for an abundance of "A"-one health.

(from later on the same page)

Actually, there is no such thing as simple "vitamin B." What the term donotes is a whole family of vitamins that together form the vitamin B complex. There's B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 (all of which have other names, as we'l see later), b12, biotin, pantothenic acid, choline, folic acid, inositol, and PABA. This family is a harmonious crew who work together as building blocks that make beaing and beautiful good health for you.

Chemically speaking, the vitamin B complex is a gorup of water-soluble vitamins found in nutritional yeast, seed germs, eggs, liver, meat and vegetables. etc."

I felt that this book was useful in getting to know exactly what vitamins and minerals do in our body. In addition, Mr. Null makes the reading easy and not too much like a science book.

I think the book is good reading since the author discusses a lot of pitfalls we all tend to get into with our eating habits, i.e. our intake of saccharin as a diet food. Anyone who's interested in their health and their loved one's health should be sure to read this book and take note of what the author's trying to tell us...to be more aware of what we put into our mouths.

ROXANNE is a wonderful script/film. How could Martin go wrong adapting and putting a spin on one of the great classic plays ("Cyrano De Bergerac")? But L A STORY shows Martin is weak when originating a long narrative. It's really a quite terrible script/film. In fact--while I saw ROXANNE 3 times--I walked out of L A STORY half-way through.

One of the movies in this book I had seen and the other I had not. "Roxanne" I remembered as a wonderful movie, and I very much enjoyed being able to pick out my favorite parts and favorite lines in the book. "L.A. Story" is a very amusing satire and I have not seen the movie. At first, reading a screenplay is confusing, but I adjusted quickly and found the reading very enjoyable.

In response to the other review, LA story is one of my very favorite movies. The screenplay is excellent, and the story is beautiful. There is nothing terrible or long-winded about it. Though I must say, I am not from California...

Generally a good way to teach very young children French, although I'm not really crazy about the storyline. In the story, each animal is unhappy with its various attributes and wants other ones, i.e. my nose is too long, I want a shorter one, etc - not exactly the kind of message I'd want my toddler to absorb.

Having said that, the illustrations are wonderful and the quality of the hardback book ............. is just great.

Although there is a glossary and pronunciation guide, I would not recommend this book to a parent who does not have a rudimentary knowledge of French.

As a Spanish teacher in an elementary school, I use this book to help teach describing words. The children love how the elephant and giraffe make silly changes to their appearance; it holds their interest in the story and helps them learn the material. At the end of the story they clearly recognize the lesson: you don't need to change who you are because friends like you just the way you are!

This book is wonderful in guiding teachers and administrators in developing an atmosphere that promotes the positive development of all children. After a large section devoted to describing the wrong-doings of Americans and the decay of our value system (at times a little extreme,) the latter part of the book gives great strategies for the development of positive classroom management and a "reclaiming environment." Worth a read.

As Education Director at an alternative high school for American Indian students, I find this book a valuable and useable resource. In a succinct fashion, the authors lay out a philosphy for creating school environments that reclaim students at risk. The Reclaiming model integrates traditional Native American aproaches to discipline and child development. The book does a nice job of explaining and illustrating each of its principles. The book offers an intuitive and very old model as well as a rationale for implementing it. For its accessibility and ideas, Reclaiming Youth At Risk should be read by everyone working with young adults.

This book provides a good fundamentals on learning the movement of water and chemicals in water. The different conepts in applying models for a specific study can be judged using this book.

This book is dope it tells of steves life in a very readable way. It tells you all you need to know about Mr steve martain. This is an old book but one of the best on steve martain. It is not so long though. You will love it a lot it is the goodest.

I am a huge Steve Martin fan and have been since I was 12 years old an saw him do happy feet on "The Tonight Show." I believe every comedian has a medium that he/she excels at and their work in other media tend to be less successful. Steve is not a master of the short story a la Woody Allen. However, several of these pieces are brilliant and the overall quality of the book has a charming (if slight) tone which is an improvement over his first book "Cruel Shoes." "Pure Drivel" also is a tad short in length, but it does deliver some quality laughs. Occasionally he goes for the surreal moment rather than the uproariously comic, so don't expect literary versions of his film and TV work. This book is a must have for the serious student of Steve's work, and along with "Picasso at Lapine Agile" and "L.A. Story" demonstrates his evolution as an artist.

This book contains big laughs. I laughed almost all the way through it and I laugh now thinking about the stuff I read. It's hard to ask more of a book of this nature. At the same time, this is not light reading. There is a sense of the abstract to the humor. "A Word From the Words" and "Times New Roman Reports Shortage of Periods" are the types of pieces that have you simultaneously giggling and scratching your head. The humor is often absurd and even self-depracating. There are rare moments when the humor almost gets lost in the absurdity of the piece, such as "The Y3K Bug", but this is mostly a great read. My personal favorite is "Writing Is Easy."
I recommend this book to anyone who is a Steve Martin fan, but I also recommend it to anyone who wants to see what else is possible when a great comic genius is given free reign to create.

This book of humorous pieces by one of our most famous, irreplacable comic minds, was very tricky for me to review. Especially because I was reviewing it while making animals out of balloons, playing the banjo, and writing a screenplay for my next film....while hanging upside down.

Yes, folks, this is not an easy book to review.

And it's not easy humor to "get" all the time.

If you are dumb, don't buy this book. Oops, sorry.

If you are pretentious, consider buying this book, but don't read it. Whoops.

If you like to pass out laughing at certain things and you are willing to let other things go that are not totally "perfect" for your tastes in humor, BUY THIS BOOK.

Steve Martin has an amazing, remarkable BRAIN and he is trying many things with these pieces in this book. It is not meant to be a cohesive whole, written in a single style. Do not expect to love all of it.

But the parts that get you..are really really worth it.

Good Father's Day book.

I love Steve Martin. And this little book is diverse, far ranging, and worth typing upside down for.

I havent read this book because I havent received my copy yet. It was explained that this book was only available via the market place. I've paid for my book and after 20 days it is yet to arrive and the seller refuses to contact me. NEVER buy anything via the marketplace.

Great instructional book for building a traditional style fireplace surround (title a bit misleading - the mantel is only the shelf above a fireplace - the surround is the mantel, columns, etc.) Limited, though in that it only covers one style surround with different variations.

If you like the style of fireplace surround on the cover of the book, then buy it. It steps you through building that style in "great" detail.

this book cleared up a lot of questions i had about building a mantel.written clearly so that most anyone could understand the sequence to get a very professional job.this was money well spent.

A ponderous treatment of the question whether international politics can best be studies scientifically--like say physics or chemistry--or by writing journalistic and historical accounts that may not exaplain things as prcesicely as scientific theories, yet provide a lot of real "understanding" of politics. The two authors take opposing views and drag out this pointless discussion to the point of no resolution.

This review by a philospher of science and an International Relations theorist of the range of debates in International Relations theory is one of the more useful advanced teaching tools in the discipline. What distinguingshes this book from the usual run-of-the-mill IR theory textbook is the authors' concern to locate IR theory within the broader questions of philosophy of the sciences. The conclusions will certainly not please those who believe in positivism, and provides one of the most convincing critiques of positivist approaches in IR. This is a book for those who take theory serious, and are prepared to put some thought into their reading, and who believe that epistemology and ontology are important.

I have used this book in a postgraduate IR theory course virtually since it was published, and year after year my students find it the most useful and interesting piece of reading in the course

I enjoyed part of this book. I laughed at a few of her stories but some of the chapters were so dated that I didn't know what she was talking about let alone whether it was funny. Maybe I was a bit too young to appreciate it all.

I feel completely bilked by this book. I had read the original edition, and loved it, when I was a teenager, so was thrilled to see it back in print. WELL! Unfortunately, the editors have actually taken a few of the articles from the original, packed in a few chapters of Scribble Scribble (which I loathed), and a random Esquire article. Ugh! I wanted the RoseMary Woods chapter. I wanted the Linda Lovelace chapter. I wanted the articles I remembered fondly. Instead, I got this dreck. The only reason I don't rate it even lower is because the writing is, as ever, quite good. But if it's not going to be the actual book it purports to be, I wish Modern Library would change the title....

I read this book years ago and bought it again for my daughter. The piece on breasts is just as hilarious and relevant today (sad to say) as it was when I first read it.